Inebriation
by textbooknarcissism
Summary: An alcoholic is defined as someone who admits they have a problem. Tony Stark doesn't have a problem... Movieverse, Pepperony.
1. Chapter 1

Tony and Rhodey sat in Tony's kitchen, drinking scotch and bourbon. Not mixed together, of course. Rhodey had come over to discuss a new initiative for Iron Man, but, being Tony Stark, he had conned Rhodey into sitting down and drinking with him instead. They talk and laugh awhile, before silence overtakes the room and Tony breaks it.

"Why didn't Pepper come with you?" Tony asked, looking around to be sure she wasn't there. Rhodey straightened his tie as an uncomfortable expression appeared on his face.

"She's on a date with Robert."

Tony frowned and narrowed his eyes, taking another sip of his scotch.

"You know, I never liked that guy," Tony said with anger in his voice.

"You've never met Robert."

"I don't have to have met him to know that Pepper deserves better."

Rhodey laughed, "I thought you were a card-carrying cynic?"

"Oh I am, world class, but there is an argument to be made that beneath every cynic there is a frustrated romantic," Tony said simply, as he finished his glass of scotch while Rhodey continued to laugh at him.

"So," Rhodey said with a huge grin, "you're a hopeless romantic now?"

"Frustrated. Frustrated romantic. Not hopeless, never hopeless," Tony murmured as he poured himself more liquor.

"Ah."

The two sat in silence for a moment longer, before Jarvis alerted them that Rhodey's phone was ringing in his jacket where he had left it by the door. Rhodey groaned and stood up to stretch.

"I gotta go, man. That's probably Fury; I was supposed to have left here," he checked his watch, "Holy shit, four hours ago. Have we really been drinking four hours?"

Tony flashed him a smile.

"I have, but I dunno about you."

Rhodey grinned and turned, heading towards the door. Tony didn't move until he heard the door slam. Now that he was alone, Tony let out a sigh and rubbed his forehead. Pepper was on a date. With a guy that wasn't him. If she could have fun, so could he.

Tony downed what was left in his glass, grabbed the full bottle that was on the counter, and the keys to the convertible.

...

Pepper sat behind the steering wheel of her car, maneuvering her way around piles of snow on the road that had yet to be plowed. She didn't like driving in the snow, especially when she was the only vehicle on the road.

Her date with Robert had gone well. They talked and talked for what seemed like forever, and he said he thought they really connected. Pepper didn't think so. Her and Robert had absolutely nothing in common, except for the fact that they both hate white wine. But that wasn't something you could form a relationship from. She hadn't really connected with any man in her life.

Except for Tony Stark.

Whose convertible was in the snowy ditch.

Pepper quickly pulled the car over and got out, rushing to the car as fast as her heels would take her. Tony was not inside. She heard a groan and hurried over to look down into the ditch, and there he was.

Tony Stark lying face down in the snow, in his new, extremely expensive, Armani suit.

"Tony," she called down to him, "what are you doing down there?"

He raised his face from the snow to look at her.

"Just taking a nap. I'm fine. You can go back to your date with Robert now," he slurred.

_Oh great, he's absolutely hammered, _Pepper thought.

"My date is over, Tony. I'm on my way home. Please come up from there."

Tony frowned, and got up on his knees; Pepper noticed the near empty bottle of scotch in his right hand. Just as Tony got to his feet, a semi truck came speeding by blaring it's horn, which caused him to tumble back down into the snow.

"Tony!" Pepper gasped, as she took one step into the snow but retracted it once she felt the cold on her feet.

Tony didn't react to the sound of his name. He wasn't moving at all.

Pepper sighed and pulled out her phone to dial 911. They would be surprised he'd stayed out of the hospital for this long.

...

The ambulance picked Tony up from where he lay in the snowy ditch in almost 10 minutes. Pepper supposed she must have made it sound worse than it was. He looked absolutely terrible as they loaded him onto the stretcher, and they wouldn't let her ride in the ambulance with him. As she watched the ambulance rush away, she pulled out her phone once more to call a tow truck to deal with Tony's convertible.

Pepper got back in behind the wheel of her car and started it, trying to hide her worry for Tony as she pulled off of the road to follow behind the ambulance.

...

She knew which room he was in when she got to the hospital. The staff assigned him his own room because he was there so often. Nobody asked questions as to why Tony Stark was in the hospital so often, and nobody dare mention that he needed rehab. But Pepper knew that he did.

When she walked into his room, he was lying awake on the bed, rubbing his right eye.

"Oh, Tony," she said as she sat down in the chair beside his bed.

He didn't say anything but continued to rub his eye. Pepper looked awkwardly down at her shoes.

"I'm sorry," Tony said quietly. Pepper glared at him.

"You can't get hammered and go on a joyride every time I'm on a date with a guy," Pepper said angrily. Tony raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"Oh? You were on a date? I had no idea," He rolled his eyes.

Silence.

"I think... You need to go to rehab, Tony," Pepper didn't look at his expression. She didn't want to see his anger.

"I tried that. It was killing my night life," he said nonchalantly as he looked at his hand and away from Pepper.

More silence.

"I'm serious, Tony, you're in here so often that you're becoming like a regular patient. That's like a new record. And you're Tony Stark, what are the tabloids going to say if they find out about this?"

"What would they say if they found out I was in rehab?" Tony retorted.

Pepper didn't say anything as she stood up from the chair, giving Tony one last look as she walked out of the room, leaving Tony alone. Tony frowned, looking at the spot where she was sitting. He missed her already.

Tony sighed, and thus began the time when Tony Stark considered going to rehab.

...

**A/N: My friend said that I should write a rehab fic, so I'm considering it. Tell me your thoughts & opinions? I usually need discussion and talking over about an idea I'm unsure of, so it'd be great if you left me some feedback :) **


	2. Chapter 2

Tony checked himself out of the Hospital the same day he got in. The doctors advised against it, but he knew they only wanted to keep him there so they would get paid for it. He was completely fine; it wasn't like this hadn't happened before. Of course, he heard a nurse murmur something about a damaged liver, but he was almost positive that it wasn't about him.

...

When Happy dropped Tony off at his house, he searched for Pepper, only to find she wasn't there. This disappointed him. He felt bad for being a total dick, so he was going to try to do right by her. Maybe even give her a proper apology, but he couldn't very well do that if she wasn't anywhere to be found nor answering her phone. Tony had given up the search and gone to work on a car in his shop.

Pepper had apparently got his convertible towed back to his house, and into his shop. There were a few dents in the front end, and a busted headlight. Not to mention some serious scratches on the driver door. Tony stared at the damage and ran his hand through his hair. He definitely did not remember doing any of that to his treasured car.

It would be simple to fix. Thank God he was Tony Stark.

...

After three hours of working on the convertible, he had taken most of it apart, and lay in the midst of the parts when he finally got fed up with waiting for some kind of contact from Pepper. He dusted himself off as he stood up, and went to sit in front of the computer screen.

"Call Pepper," he ordered, spinning around once on the chair as the familiar ringing tones were heard.

One ring.

Two rings.

Three rings.

Four rings.

And she picked up on the fifth.

"What do you want, Tony?" It almost sounded like she was whispering.

"I, uh, I just need t- I-I-," he looked down at his feet and put his face in his hands. This was harder than he thought.

"I don't like socks," he muttered eventually, examining the sock on his foot. He heard Pepper scoff on the other line.

"You called me in the middle of a d- while I'm very busy to tell me that you don't like socks?" Tony also heard the slight agitation and anger in her voice.

"No! No. I called to see how you were doing.. And tell you tha-that- what I'm trying to say is that I need you to..." Tony paused and frowned. "You're on a date?"

Silence.

"Pepper, are you on a date?" Tony repeated, trying not to sound upset. "Pepper?" She sighed.

"Yes, Tony, I'm on a date, but don't overreact it's j-"

"Is it with Robert?" Tony cut her off. She sighed again.

"Yes, Tony, it's with Robert. But I have to go, he's waiting for me to come back to the table."

Tony wasn't really sure what to say to her. To tell her to stop dating him would be rude and suspicious. To tell her that she was being stupid would be well, stupid, and a lie. To say anything else would cause him trouble. Then again, after what he did, he was already in trouble.

"Why didn't you tell me you were going on a date?" Tony murmured, as he inspected his fingernails.

"I.. I.. I didn't want you to get mad. I didn't want you to do anything abnormally _stupid."_ Tony heard how she enunciated the word stupid.

"I would ne-" Tony began, but this time, Pepper cut him off.

"No, Tony, seriously. I have to go. Please don't do anything rash," She said, and then hung up.

...

Tony sat in front of the computer, listening to the dial tone, and trying not to break something in his anger. How could Pepper go on another date with that guy? _And how could she not tell me? _Tony thought.

"Am I not good enough for her?" Tony murmured to himself.

He expected Jarvis to say something about his comment, but Tony was glad he didn't.

Tony eyed the cabinet where he kept the alcohol, and stood up to walk toward it. Upon opening it, he considered his options. Drink and be miserable, or drink and be happy. Pepper was angry with him either way, so he might as well be as happy as he could without her.

Inside the cabinet was a vast choice of any kind, shape, size, and brand of booze anyone could imagine. And Tony still denied the fact that he was an alcoholic. Although, Tony was only interested in one - he was a scotch man. He grabbed a 1 litre bottle of his favorite drink - which was luckily at the front - and immediately took a large gulp. After removing the bottle from his lips, he looked at it and smiled.

He felt better already.

"Jarvis, prepare the suit!" Tony said to the room.

"Sir, there are currently no missions on your file, and I highly advise against-"

"Oh, stuff it," Tony muttered as he walked toward the suit in the midst of it's preparation; scotch in hand.

He didn't care. Not about what anyone thought of him, nor what they wanted. And as he stepped into the boots, he barely even cared what Pepper would want. As the front of the suit was placed on him, a small part of his brain told him it was a bad idea. Or maybe that was just Tony imagining Jarvis' voice. But Tony still didn't care; the booze made his pain go away, even if nobody believed he had any pain.

He was, after all, Iron Man. Wasn't he supposed to feel no pain, or be invincible or something like that? Tony didn't believe any of it. He definitely wasn't invincible, he still got bumps and bruises when he went on missions, but that was just physical. Physical pain was nothing compared to what Virginia Potts was capable of making him feel.

...

"Watch where you're going!" A woman screeched from her car, as she honked and swerved her vehicle around the highway, and away from Tony inside the Iron Man suit.

Tony just waved his hand at the yelling woman and flew faster ahead of her, maneuvering himself around other cars and trucks; still keeping a firm grasp on the now nearly-empty bottle of scotch. Some part of him knew that what he was doing was wrong, because nobody wants a drunk man flying around in a metal suit, nevermind a superhero. It was considered slacking.

More than anything, though, he was surprised nobody had done anything about his flying-under-the-influence yet. Not like there was a large streak of crime for it. Tony was more than sure he had flown passed multiple police vehicles, none of which had turned on their lights, sirens, nor chased after him. But he didn't care, he was having fun. Because he still believed that if Pepper could go out and have fun, then so could he.

Just because she had said don't do anything _rash_ didn't mean he couldn't go flying in the suit. When he was in the suit, Tony Stark didn't exist, and only Iron Man was present. There were no rash actions for Iron Man. Well, normally anyway. So basically he had found a technicality in Pepper's choice of words, that allowed him to do as he pleased but still have an excuse.

"Hey!" Tony yelled, as a truck came toward him, causing Tony to go around it and fly straight into the wall of rugged mountains, falling to the ground in front of it; the bottle of scotch breaking over his head moments after.

...

**A/N: Okay. I wasn't even planning on continuing this fic, but here it is. I wrote chapter two. Tell me what you think please? :) Ohh and for anyone wondering, it's looking like Tony will, indeed, be going to a rehabilitation center, so if you come up with a possible name for it I'll credit you in the chapter it is introduced in :)**


	3. Chapter 3

Pepper's date with Robert had gone much better the second time around. They had gone to this fancy Italian restaurant, and Pepper didn't know how to pronounce nevermind spell the name of it. She didn't make a fool of herself, though - Neither her nor Robert knew a word of Italian, they laughed together as they tried to explain to the waiter what they wanted. She couldn't lie - she really had fun.

Robert was confusing though. Pepper wasn't sure how to read him, and she was usually the best judge of character. Even Happy had admitted that if he were to go by anyone's character judgment, it would be hers. She was unsure if he was saying that in all honesty, or if he just had the hots fo her, but either way she still agreed. But Robert was exceptionally.. frustrating. He was neutral, and it seemed as though he almost had no idea what she was saying half the time.

But that was just another part of working out the kinks in what is supposed to be a relationship.

...

Pepper unlocked the door to her house to hear the phone ringing; so she kicked off her high heels and rushed to pick it up.

"Hello?" She said breathlessly. Rhodey's familiar voice was on the other line.

"He got smashed again. This time it was in the suit."

Pepper covered her mouth in shock, and leaned against the wall.

"Oh, God. Is he alright? Please tell me he's alright," she murmured into the phone.

"Yeah, yeah he's fine. They're removing him from the Pacific Coat Highway righ-"

"What?" Pepper shrieked, "He was flying on the Highway! How dare he, oh he's going to get a piece of m-"

"Calm down, Pepper," it was Rhodey's turn to interrupt her. "I know it was stupid, but it's over and done with. They're loading him into the ambulance right now, had to bring SHIELD in to assist in removing the suit though. He's awake, but completely out of it."

Pepper sighed. Stupid, stupid Tony. Sometimes she wondered if he even cared about anything she said, because his actions sure said otherwise. But even though she would really like to think that he didn't care, she knew better than that.

"Oh, and he absolutely refuses to go to the Hospital, so they're just carting him back to his house and making sure he'll be alright for awhile. There's no reasoning with him," Rhodey sighed on the other end of the reciever.

Pepper groaned and looked at the clock on the wall. 8:17pm. Although it was still rather early, she was extremely worn out and tired. But Tony needed her more than she needed her sleep, and both of them knew that she needed him too.

"I'll be there in ten," Pepper said into the phone, pressing the _off _button and heading back to where she abandoned her shoes.

...

The ambulance was pulling out as Pepper was pulling in to Tony's house. The medical crew gave her a wave, and she nodded to them; parking her car, undoing her seatbelt, and rushing into the house. She heard laughter as she entered, and didn't even bother to remove her shoes. She walked into Tony's living room, to find him with his right arm elevated on 3 pillows, an ice pack on his leg, and another on his head, grinning at some ridiculous sitcom with bad acting. He didn't even look away from the television as she entered the room.

Pepper picked up the remote that was sitting on the end of the couch that Tony lay on, and pressed the power button to turn the television off. Tony's smile faded as he turned toward her.

"What was that for?" He whined; a crease appearing between his eyebrows.

Pepper just stood at the foot of the couch with crossed arms and an extremely stern look, while Tony just frowned at her. The two almost had a staring contest for a moment, before Tony blinked and looked away from her, muttering something under his breath and adjusting the ice pack on his leg.

Pepper sighed; he wasn't going to say anything unless she spoke first. She walked over and sat down on the couch beside him, as he refused to have eye contact with her.

"Oh, Tony," she murmured, extending her arm up to touch Tony's cheek as he finally turned his head to look at her. She gave him a sad little smile before reaching her hand around and flicking him hard in the back of the neck.

"Ow!" Tony yelped, as Pepper narrowed her eyes and he rubbed his neck.

"I'm already in extreme amounts of pain, do you need to give me more?" Tony muttered, as Pepper crossed her arms once again and stared at him.

"You deserve all the pain you're in. You were _flying_ drunk on the _highway_ Tony, do you have any idea what the press is going to say about this? What Fury is going to say about it? Senator Stern?"

Tony didn't say anything, and just looked down at the floor.

"Why do you even do it? Is there any objective at all for your obsessive and excessive drinking, that gets my and your ass into trouble? You always seem to go haywire when I go on a date," Pepper said to him, the tone of her voice beginning to raise.

Again, Tony said nothing and averted her eyes.

"Do you know how hard it is to date in the shadow of Tony Stark?" She whispered to him. Tony snapped his head up and looked at her.

"Don't date in the shadow of him, just date him instead," Tony smiled. Pepper ignored his comment and continued.

"Whenever you find out I'm on a date with Robert," Tony stuck out his tongue at the sound of Robert's name, "you get absolutely hammered and hurt yourself. It's happened multiple times, and I do worry about you, Tony. You do know that, right?"

"I know that, Pepper. I worry about you too," Tony said quietly, as began twiddling his thumbs.

"Oh?" Pepper raised an eyebrow. "Is that why you either ruin my dates or the remainder of my day after a date? Because you worry about me. I get it now."

They looked at each other. Tony thinking how he wanted to just blurt it all out, and tell her that she shouldn't be dating Robert. Pepper thinking how she wished Tony would stop being a dumbass, and making life harder for her.

"I don't want you to get hurt... That's all," Tony said.

Just as Pepper opened her mouth to counter him, she was interrupted by Jarvis.

"Nick Fury is here to see you, sir."

Tony sighed as Pepper grinned and stood up to head for the door.

"Where are you going?" Tony asked her with a worried tone in his voice. She waved her arm behind her as she walked away.

"Have fun with Fury," she called over her shoulder, as Tony groaned and rubbed his forehead.

Yeah, he was in trouble.

...

**A/N: Okay. So I'm continuing it. Sorry for the lame chapter, but it's not like I can go on without filling in semi-not-really-important-plot-points, y'know. Ohhh and Pepper's current boyfriend, Robert, is named after Robert Downey, Jr himself. LMFAO. So thanks for reading, and a review would be lovely :)**


	4. Chapter 4

Nick Fury was extremely good at staring people down with one eye. Maybe it was the eye patch that made him all the more scarier. Yeah, it was definitely the eye patch. But Tony still had difficulty keeping eye contact with him, even though he refused to lose this war. The two stared at each other for a matter of minutes, before Tony blinked, cursed under his breath, and looked down at his feet.

"So how was your flight?" Tony grimaced and looked at Fury out of the corner of his eye, honestly a little afraid to see the anger on the man's face.

"Uh.. Good?" Tony gestured to his injuries and places there were ice packs. Fury just nodded.

"You can't be doing shit like this, Tony."

Tony said nothing. It wasn't like he didn't know that, of course he knew. He knew he couldn't keep getting drunk, and doing idiotic things that would cause everybody problems. He also knew that he should be the one dating Pepper. Not whatever the guy's name was that she was currently dating.

"If you want to be part of The Avengers th-"

"I don't want to join your super secret boy band! We've been over this!" Tony cried, as slapped his hand down on the couch. Nick Fury could be scary as hell one minute, and annoying as hell the next.

"Be serious. We need you-"

"More than you know," Tony gave a little half smile.

"No, not that much, but we still need you, Tony," Fury sighed.

Tony began to laugh, and put his hand over his mouth to stifle his giggles. Nick raised an eyebrow at Tony.

"I don't see what's so funny."

"If you were as drunk as I am you would," Tony laughed.

"Tony," there came the extreme serious note of Nick Fury's voice. This was when you knew that he meant business. But then again, Fury always meant business. He was the most real person you would ever meet.

"You're not the only superhero out there-" Tony interrupted Nick again.

"So you're admitting that I'm a superhero?" Tony grinned and looked at Fury. "Okay, I'm sorry. I still don't know if I should be looking in the patch or the eye."

Nick just stared at Tony. Tony stared at Nick. Both with a simple look of annoyance, confusion, and a hint of anger. Well, Tony wasn't angry, just fed up with life. And a bit drunk. Either way, Nick ignored his comment.

"Well, you sure as hell ain't acting like a superhero right now, Stark. At least the rest of them have the decency to-" Nick was getting fed up with Tony interrupting him.

"The decency to what? Wear spandex and underwear over their clothes? I'm not wearing spandex," Tony crossed his arms and an ice pack fell off of his head.

"-The decency to not get shitfaced and disrupt traffic, and cause havoc in general. It's just you that does it," Fury sighed.

Tony made retching noises, and covered his mouth.

"Sorry, I'm not feeling so good," Tony retched again. "D'you think you could get me a bucket? Or a Tupperware container? Or a top hat?"

Nick shook his head, "that's strike one, Tony."

"What'll happen if I get three strikes? You gonna spank me?" Tony grinned, as he suddenly lifted his hand once more to cover his mouth.

Nick sighed. There was no getting through to Tony Stark, especially when he was still slightly intoxicated. He didn't listen, even when he was sober. But Nick really needed Tony to understand. Understand that Tony was more important than he knew, and the world really couldn't afford for him to keep causing trouble. SHIELD couldn't keep wasting their time to clean up Tony's wreckage, they did have other problems to deal with. But unfortunately, Tony was their biggest one. As Tony leaned over and looked at the floor with his hand over his mouth, Nick Fury couldn't help but shake his head.

"You should really consider going to rehab, Tony," Nick muttered, as he turned to exit the house.

And as Tony finally vomited, a small part in the back of his brain was considering rehab for the second time.

...

**A/N: Yes, I know this chapter is incredibly short, but there's just not much I can do with dialogue between Nick Fury and Tony Stark! Especially a half drunk Tony. Sorry. It's the least I can do. But there will be another chapter soon enough, and it most likely - definitely - will not include a half-assed convo between Fury & Stark. Review? :)**


	5. Chapter 5

Once Tony had recovered from flying under the influence, Pepper went to check on him the following morning. She was afraid for Tony; she had another date with Robert, and she wasn't sure how Tony would take it. A part of her wanted to tell him, so she wouldn't be a liar, and another part didn't want to tell him; scared of what he might do. The thing with Tony was that he was stubborn: although he knew he had a serious drinking problem, he refused to accept it. Pepper - and everyone else around him - knew that he needed help, and Pepper was going to try her best to make sure he got it.

When she pulled into the driveway of the Stark Mansion, she was greeted by various machine parts strewn across the pavement. It looked like the work of a very stressed and angry Tony Stark. Upon getting out of her car, Pepper paused for a moment to examine the broken machinery... Which looked oddly like Butterfingers. Pepper bent down to pick up a large chunk of metal, and she turned it over in her hands. Recognizing the familiar design and structure of Butterfingers, she stepped over the pieces of metal and headed for the front door; taking with her the piece she had picked up.

Although he was just a robot that acted almost sentient, and some people may find it silly, but Pepper had still cared for Butterfingers, and she both worried and wondered why Tony had destroyed him. She just really hoped that Tony hadn't torn Jarvis apart.

...

"Tony?" Pepper called as she entered the house, firmly closing the door behind her with her foot. Still carrying the broken part of Butterfingers, Pepper walked towards the stairs that led to Tony's workshop, where the faint sound of Led Zeppelin could be heard.

As she was about to put her foot on the top step, she noticed a few more pieces of machinery out of the corner of her eye. Frowning, Pepper walked over to them and noticed they were almost in a trail that led up to Tony's highest balcony. Pepper didn't even want to go up and see the scene of the crime; she was almost one hundred percent positive that Tony had hurled Butterfingers from the balcony. Or something along those lines. Pepper sighed, took one brave breath, and turned to tip-toe down to Tony's workshop.

...

As Pepper descended down the stairs into the blaring loud music and messy workshop, she spotted the top of Tony's head bent down over some pile of what looked to be metal. And also resembled Dummy's figure.

"No, no, no, no!" Pepper yelled, but Tony couldn't hear her.

Balancing the busted part from Butterfingers in one arm, Pepper punched in the access code to the workshop, and screamed "Mute!" as she entered. Tony froze over Dummy's half mangled form, and didn't turn around when the music stopped and silence overtook the room.

"Please don't turn down my music," He stated.

"Tony, what the _hell_ are you doing?" Pepper said angrily, Tony turning to look at her as she set Butterfingers' part down on the table which she stood in front of. Tony winced and looked at the broken part. He stared at it for only a moment, before turning back to whatever he was doing with Dummy.

"He fell." Pepper put her hand on her hip and narrowed her eyes.

"Stop whatever the hell you're doing with Dummy. You're putting him back together before you completely destroy him," Pepper cautioned Tony.

"But he-" Tony whined as he dropped the tool he was using and stood up to face Pepper.

"But nothing, Tony. I won't allow you to screw up and tear apart your robots just because you're an alcoholic and you have angst and anger," Tony opened his mouth to object at her comment, but Pepper continued.

"They're the only things that are close to living in the house, Tony. You don't even have a fish or anything! That's gotta be saying something. Dummy, Butterfingers, and Jarvis are your own little artificial ecosystem, and you need that more than you know, Tony. So you're going to fix them. Both," Pepper finished.

As her brain tried to go over what she just said, making sure that it made sense, she remembered Jarvis.

"Jarvis, you're still here right?" Pepper said to the room.

"Of course, Miss Potts," came the reply.

"Good," Pepper almost smiled, but instead she looked at an upset Tony and frowned at him.

Pepper studied his expression. She could detect his mild anger, stress, and confusion. He acted like a bratty, spoiled, five year old when he didn't get what he wanted. And even though Pepper couldn't for the life of her figure out why Tony would possibly want to destroy his robots, he still wanted it. Tony stood with his arms crossed, making the biggest frown Pepper had ever seen, before he sighed and turned back to the mangled pile of machine parts.

Pepper stared at his back for a moment, before putting her hand on her hip and beginning to tap her foot on the floor.

"I'm not cleaning up the house or the driveway," Pepper announced.

"I'll get Butterfingers to d-" Tony dropped whatever was in his hand and stood up to face Pepper, pausing mid sentence as he once again spotted the part of Butterfingers that Pepper had brought down with her. "Oh."

Tony stood across from a very stern looking Pepper, and looked down at his feet, before sighing and mumbling something about a broom.

"What was that?" Pepper inquired.

"I'll.. I'll get a broom," Tony muttered, as he turned and walked to the other side of the workshop, soon returning with a broom in his hand. He barely paused for a moment - looking at Pepper - before walking around her to the door. Pepper sighed and decided that she should tell him before it was too late.

"I have another date tonight."

Tony's hand froze on the door handle.

"Is it with Robert?" Tony murmured quietly, his hand tightly clenched on the handle of the door; the other on the broom.

"Yes, Tony, it is," Pepper sighed, as she turned around to look at him. But he was still facing the door.

Tony said nothing in reply and just kept his head up and faced forward towards the door. The silence overtook the room for a moment, before Tony turned toward Pepper and gave her a nod.

"That will be all Miss Potts," he said, before swiftly exiting the workshop.

Pepper groaned and put her head in her hand. There was just no compromising with Tony, and she knew that he was bound to do something stupid again.

She just didn't want to know what.

...

**A/N: I'm sorry for doing character death! Dummy & Butterfingers aren't dead, he can rebuild them! Plus, it was just Tony's angst and all. Uh, so yeah it actually seems that I'm taking this fic somewhere or other, so, review! Thank you for wasting your time here :)**


	6. Chapter 6

Robert was a doctor. He wasn't a pediatrician, or a chiropractor. He didn't operate on people's brains every day, nor specialize in heart surgery. He was just a doctor; a regular guy. Pepper liked that in him, it was something she'd been needing in her life. But it wasn't necessarily something she'd been wanting. Robert was psychologically normal as far as she could tell, and he led a normal every day life; unlike Tony Stark.

And speaking of Tony Stark, Pepper thought that he was finally beginning to accept her relationship with Robert. After her last encounter with Tony, when she had gathered the courage to tell him to stop tearing his robots apart, and that she was going on another date, he stormed off. They hadn't spoken until said date later that night with Robert.

Tony was texting Pepper throughout the date, mostly snide remarks like:

_Hey, how's Doctor Dickhead?_

and

_If he says he needs to give you a physical, I'm all for it... Send pics._

Pepper didn't respond to any of these, but she couldn't help but smile. And she just to happened to smile over one of Tony's texts when Robert was talking about the death of some family member. Or something. She thought that it definitely cost her a few points of respect.

While Robert was telling Pepper about his work, she nodded and smiled, but really she was thinking about Tony. She wished he knew how much she truly cared and worried for him, so he could understand what she meant when she told him not to do anything stupid. He had stopped sending her texts about forty five minutes ago, so only naturally she began to wonder.

She kept telling herself that he was alright, he was fine, and she would know for sure in a few short hours.

...

After dinner, Robert had convinced Pepper to return to his place with him. And although she wanted to go back to the Stark mansion, being rude wasn't really in her blood. They had sat on his couch, and Robert brought out yet another bottle of wine, and Pepper couldn't refuse. After they drank, and drank, and finally talked for awhile, Robert tried to come on to her and that was when she denied him. Pepper told him that there was a work emergency, and she had to go, so she swiftly exited his house and drove away.

As she was on her way to Tony's house, she only hoped that she wouldn't find him six sheets to the wind, doubled over in a ditch somewhere again. She told herself that she needed to have more faith in Tony; to trust him. But when she reached Tony's house, her mind quickly changed.

...

Pepper entered Tony's house only to walk into darkness. There were no lights on, and only the faint sound of ACDC's Shoot To Thrill could be heard.

"Jarvis, light main areas of the house, please," Pepper said quietly, as she shut the front door behind her.

"Yes, Miss Potts," came the drone of the AI.

When the house was illuminated, Pepper immediately saw Tony laying on his back on the living room floor. She walked over to him - rushing over would have made her seem desperate or something - and hovered over his head with a frown until he opened his eyes.

"Whoa, nice dress Potts, if you took one step closer, I wouldn't mind," Tony winked.

Pepper scoffed and kicked him playfully, before bending down to sit next to him, leaning on her side. Tony turned his head toward her and smiled.

"You smell like piss," Pepper said softly. Tony frowned.

"Bad?"

"No, not that bad."

Tony looked at Pepper, and Pepper looked at Tony. And just as Pepper opened her mouth to speak, Tony rolled over and stood up. Pepper watched as he tried to walk, he stumbled to the left - so far left he almost hit the windows - and almost fell down.

"Are you drunk?" Pepper couldn't help the hint of anger that crept into her voice.

"No," Tony called back to her as he approached the kitchen counter. "But this oughta do it."

Pepper narrowed her eyes at him and watched as he took back a line of 5 shots that was on the counter. She almost began to wonder what the hell he got up to when she wasn't around. She stood up, and Tony shuffled his way over to her. He stood in front of her and gave her a smug grin.

Pepper crossed her arms and wrinkled her nose, "Tony, go take a shower."

"Will you lay down with me?"

"Go take a shower."

"Will you lay down with me?" Tony repeated.

"If-" Pepper paused to study his expression. His eyes seemed solemn and glazed over, his hair was messier than usual, and his mouth was nowhere near a smile. She decided that he was almost too drunk to want sex, and that he really just wanted her to lay down with him.

"Alright," she sighed, putting her hand on his shoulder and leading toward Tony's bedroom. Clad in his Iron Man themed T-shirt and grey sweatpants, Tony crawled under the thick blanket on his bed, while Pepper lay on top of them next to him. The two lay in silence for awhile, until Tony turned over to face her.

"You stopped texting me," Pepper murmured.

"I didn't want to disrupt your date," Tony's words were starting to slur together.

"I don't know why you don't like him. You've never met Robert."

"You deserve better. You deserve me."

Pepper was quiet, and all that could be heard was the sound of Tony's heavy breathing.

"Oh," she whispered. "Oh. So that's what this is about.."

When Tony didn't respond, she looked at his face only to see him already asleep, and beginning to drool on his arm that was under his head. She couldn't help but smile - She loved Tony. Well, most of the time anyway. But Pepper couldn't decide if it was the kind of love you give to a friend or another kind of love entirely.

She pondered her thoughts for what seemed like hours, and eventually fell asleep on Tony Stark's bed, right next to a passed out Tony Stark himself.

...

**A/N: Yeah, here is the next chapter! I'm not really sure where I'm taking this story, but this chapter was 100% necessary! So please, enjoy it, and reviews make me happy. OH, and did you know they're doing Iron Man 3 after The Avengers? I didn't know that, and I fangirled so hard.**


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